Analysis of Fireflies



My fancies are fireflies, —
Specks of living light
twinkling in the dark.

he voice of wayside pansies,
that do not attract the careless glance,
murmurs in these desultory lines.

In the drowsy dark caves of the mind
dreams build their nest with fragments
dropped from day's caravan.

Spring scatters the petals of flowers
that are not for the fruits of the future,
but for the moment's whim.

Joy freed from the bond of earth's slumber
rushes into numberless leaves,
and dances in the air for a day.

My words that are slight
my lightly dance upon time's waves
when my works havy with import have gone down.

Mind's underground moths
grow filmy wings
and take a farewell flight
in the sunset sky.

The butterfly counts not months but moments,
and has time enough.

My thoughts, like spark, ride on winged surprises,
carrying a single laughter.
The tree gazes in love at its own beautiful shadow
which yet it never can grasp.

Let my love, like sunlight, surround you
and yet give you illumined freedom.

Days are coloured vbubbles
that float upon the surface of fathomless night.

My offerings are too timid to claim your remembrance,
and therefore you may remember them.

Leave out my name from the gift
if it be a burden,
but keep my song.

April, like a child,
writes hieroglyphs on dust with flowers,
wipes them away and forgets.

Memory, the priestess,
kills the present
and offers its heart to the shrine of the dead past.

From the solemn gloom of the temple
children run out to sit in the dust,
God watches them play
and forgets the priest.

My mind starts up at some flash
on the flow of its thoughts
like a brook at a sudden liquid note of its own
that is never repeated.

In the mountain, stillness surges up
to explore its own height;
in the lake, movement stands still
to contemplate its own depth.

The departing night's one kiss
on the closed eyes of morning
glows in the star of dawn.

Maiden, thy beauty is like a fruit
which is yet to mature,
tense with an unyielding secret.

Sorrow that has lost its memory
is like the dumb dark hours
that have no bird songs
but only the cricket's chirp.

Bigotry tries to keep turth safe in its hand
with a grip that kills it.
Wishing to hearten a timid lamp
great night lights all her stars.

Though he holds in his arms the earth-bride,
the sky is ever immensely away.

God seeks comrades and claims love,
the Devil seeks slaves and claims obedience.

The soil in return for her service
keeps the tree tied to her,
the sky asks nothing and leaves it free.

Jewel-like immortal
does not boast of its length of years
but of the scintillating point of its moment.

The child ever dwells in the mystery of ageless time,
unobscured by the dust of history.

Alight laughter in the steps of creation
carries it swiftly across time.

One who was distant came near to me in the morning,
and still nearer when taken away by night.

White and pink oleanders meet
and make merry in different dialects.

When peace is active swepping its dirt, it is storm.

The lake lies low by the hill,
a tearful entreaty of love
at the foot of the inflexible.

There smiles the Divine Child
among his playthings of unmeaning clouds
and ephemeral lights and shadows.

The breeze whispers to the lotus,
'What is thy secret?'
'It is myself,' says the lotus,
'Steal it and I disappear!'

The freedom of the storm and the bondage of the stem
join hands in the dance of swaying branches.

The jasmine's lisping of love to the sun is her flowers.

The tyrant claims freedom to kill freedom
and yet to keep it for himself.

Gods, tired of their paradise, envy man.

Clouds are hills in vapour,
hills are clouds in stone, —
a phantasy in time's dream.

While God waits for His temple to be built of love,
men bring stones.

I touch God in my song
as the hill touches the far-away sea
with its waterfall.

Light finds her treasure of colours
through the antagonism of clouds.

My heart to-day smiles at its past night of tears
like a wet tree glistening in the sun
after the rain is over.

I have thanked the trees that have made my life fruitflul,
but have failed to remember the grass
that has ever kept it green.

The one without second is emptiness,


Scheme ABX XXX XCD EFX FXG BXX XXBX CX XFXX XH AB IJ XKL MEX NOX PXGX XXQX XBRX XSX XXT UEXX XXXX XG VI NFU PXO WU KW SB XX X RVP MXX NTNX JX E HX D FQX VX LUX AX XKF PXX F
Poetic Form
Metre 110110 11101 100001 111110 111010101 10011001 001011101 1111110 11110 11010110 1111011010 110101 111011110 100111 010001101 11111 11010111 1111101111 1101 111 01011 0011 010111110 01101 1111111010 10001010 0110011111001 1111011 11111011 011101010 11101 1101010111 11001110111010 01110101 1111101 111010 1111 10101 10111110 1101001 100010 1010 010111011011 101011010 101111001 11011 00101 1111111 101111 1011010101111 1110010 001010101 101111 0011011 110111 0010111 1011110 100111 101101101 111101 11101010 101111100 1101110 11111 1100101 10011111011 101111 101100101 111101 111011011 0111001001 111011 01011010100 010011010 101110 011100111 101010 11111111 110111110 01101001001101 11011100 01100011010 10110011 1111011110010 01101100111 10111 0110010010 11110111111 0111101 01001011 101100100 110011 0111111 00100101 01101010 11110 1111010 110101 0101010010101 1100111010 011111011010 0101101110 01111101 1101110101 11101 11101 01011 111111011111 111 111011 1011001011 1110 1101011 10010011 11111111111 1011100001 1001110 11101111111 111101001 1110111 01011011001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 4,020
Words 760
Sentences 48
Stanzas 45
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 2, 4, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 4, 4, 2, 2, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 3, 3, 4, 2, 1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 1
Lines Amount 121
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 73
Words per stanza (avg) 17
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 10, 2023

3:49 min read
388

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore FRAS was an Indian polymath—poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He reshaped Bengali literature and music as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. more…

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